5 Tips for Selecting the Best Low-Flow Toilet for Your Bathroom
Low-flow toilets can reduce household water consumption by over 50 percent. That’s no small amount, considering that flushing standard toilets represents the largest per-person water consumption in the home.
The Environmental Protection Agency has developed standards for low-flow toilets, also known as high-efficiency toilets (HET). Today, 73 manufacturers offer over 1,300 models of low-flow toilets on the consumer market.
Here are five tips to help when comparison-shopping:
1. Evaluate toilets on performance, not technology.
While many innovative designs are utilized in HETs, only one thing really matters in your home: how efficiently a given model removes waste. Though no single official test standard exists, leading consumer magazines as well as some state water conservation agencies publish rankings of HETs based on their own private tests.
2. Do you prefer siphon or wash-down?
Not a question you’ll probably be asked at a dinner party, however, it does clear up one of the major decisions in purchasing a low-flow toilet. Siphon toilets pull waste down from below, eliminating residue on the sides of the bowl, but may be more prone to clogging. Wash-down designs push waste out of the bowl, making them less likely to clog, but also more likely to leave residue on the sides of the bowl.
3. Look for models that explicitly state that the toilet meets HET standards for gallons-per-flush.
Currently, only toilets that consume 1.28 gallons or less per flush can be called HET models.
4. Paying more doesn’t necessarily buy better performance.
Some no-frills, single-flush HET toilets from major brand names offer excellent performance at very reasonable prices.
5. Shop around for size, height and bowl configuration.
Both elongated and round designs are available, but make sure your bathroom has enough room to accommodate an elongated model before purchasing. Also, verify clearance between the wall and existing floor flange bolts when sizing a new toilet.
Sobieski Services offers water-conserving low-flow toilets in a variety of models and styles. Our goal is to help educate our customers in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC & plumbing systems).
Image Credit: sarahchats
